Picnic

This weekend we taught Violet what a picnic is.  She thought it was a great idea.  Our fancy dinner consisted of apples, bagels, and barbecue-flavored chicken which Violet would point to and say, "bok bok bok," just like a chicken.

 But being Violet, she only sat on the bench for about 5 minutes before it was time to go play.  That was fine with me.

 Hello, third trimester. Looking booty-licious.

Our classy girl

We bathe Violet almost every day. I buy tons of cute clothes for her to wear. But despite my best efforts, if you saw Violet you would probably think she's the youngest of 15 kids all living in a trailer. It's not because she loves to play in the dirt; after all, what kind of toddler doesn't like getting dirty? It's also not because of the smears all over her face that come from her obsession with dipping ANYTHING she eats in ketchup. No, it's because this child will only wear one thing and that thing is a hand-me-down BYU shirt. She doesn't even know what BYU is. She likes wearing it because it has a "kitty" on it. I try to hide it in the bottom of the laundry pile but she has figured that out, so every day she will fish through the dirty laundry and come out with her filthy "kitty shirt." And it gets better. Not only does she insist on taking off her clean shirt and putting on her kitty shirt, but for some reason she refuses to wear any pants with it. So, if you see a little girl with hair in her face, ketchup smears on her mouth, a dirty BYU tee and no pants or shoes on, then it's probably Violet.

Things that make me laugh

Violet is funny.  That's all.  Like when she does these things:
Putting things in her ear.  It's not like the normal toddler "I think I'll try to fit object X into oriface Y" thing.  It's a real obsession.  If you give her a stuffed animal, she will find its skinniest appendage and put it in her ear.  If you stroke her hair, she will grab your hand and stick your finger in her ear.  Her blanket, corners of pillows, they all go in.  And she will just sit there and hold it in her ear for who knows how long.
Pooping in the sink.  Don't even ask about that one.  Thankfully it was the bathroom sink.
The baby now craves fast food so frequently that when I pull up to a drive through, Violet will start ordering from the back seat. "French fries!  And tay tots!  And nuggets!  And ketchup!"
Violet wads up little balls of toilet paper and sticks them up her nose.  One was so deep that I didn't even notice it until we were in the car a couple of hours later and she sneezed it out and said, "Uh-oh, booger!"  And I swear it was about a centimeter long. 
Violet learns things that I don't teach her and I always wonder where it came from.  This morning I asked her what she wanted for breakfast (around here the choices are cereal or bagels-- I'm not nice enough to make anything) and she pulled out a pancake mix (I NEVER make pancakes and didn't think she even knew what they were) and said, "Pancakes!  Pancakes!" Then she proceeded to pull out a griddle for me.  So not only does she know what pancakes are, but apparently she knows how to make them.
On another note, after years of growing out my hair just so that I could have my natural color back, I am starting to miss being blonde. 

Ugh.  Tough, life-changing decisions.  Which one do you like?

Now that internet is here

Anyone want to see our new place? I guess since we've been living here for 3 weeks now it's not exactly new, but that's what happens when you don't have internet for that long.  I will never forgive AT&T for that. As you can see it's much nicer than our last place and we now have all the furniture I built in high school.  Yay.

 What have we been doing, you ask?  Here's an update.
Brandon:
-Back at school and is now a TA.  He grades a lot of papers, so most of his nights look like the above picture.
-He has been elected as secretary of the GeoUnion, or whatever it is called. He has also been named the unofficial photographer for the geology department.
-He had 3 interviews for internships and a few more to come.  I can't believe that he just finished his last internship and is already applying for one next summer.
-He did not take a job with the company he worked for over the summer.  They loved him but he wants to finish school as quickly as possible, which means not working yet.
-He is going to Australia next summer for a conference.  He may also go on a department field trip next year to Chile or Oman.
-He gets up with Violet every morning so that I can sleep in.  He also takes her away when I have meltdowns. He's awesome.

Violet:
-Calls herself Vyvet.
-Knows most letters in the alphabet and loves to point them out to me in books and signs.
-Knows her colors now.
-Has memorized the way to the zoo (and the park, and everything else) and when I pass the place where I should turn she points out the window and says, "Ammels!  Ammels!" (Animals, animals)
-Loves M&Ms.  Points to them and squeals at the grocery store.
-Is working on her pronunciation.  When you asked her to say orange she used to say orgy.  And when she wants a fork... well, just use your imagination.
-Thinks she is potty trained but just uses it as an excuse to get out of church meetings. "Uh-oh, poop. Stinky.  Potty."  And then I take her to the bathroom where she gets on the toilet and pretends to go, then says, "All done."

Me:
-Getting bigger every day.
-I bought ja cutest maternity dress at Target for $13.
-I have really low blood pressure which results in days where I can only stand for a few minutes at a time, but it's a great excuse to eat a bag of chips and a jar of pickles.  Too bad I never buy those things...
-Baby is due December 20 and the sex will be a surprise.  As will the name (not just for everyone else, but I'm pretty sure we will be coming up with a name as I am pushing this kid out.  And I'm hoping it's born with a name tag.)
-Hmm... turns out the only interesting thing about me right now is in my uterus.